


All the coffee

by Nana_Evans



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: HYDRA wasn't in SHIELD, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Post-Avengers (2012), coffee is a big part of this, diner au, winterhawk santa 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 11:21:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17243330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nana_Evans/pseuds/Nana_Evans
Summary: Clint Barton life was a mess but he knew where to find the best and the cheapest coffee in Bed-Stuy.





	All the coffee

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Flowerparrish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flowerparrish/gifts).



> To lynxzpanther, Happy Holydays! Sorry I'm late, but I hope you like it! There's fluff and a lot of coffee.

Clint Barton life was a mess. He had no routine, nothing was certain, nothing was safe; except for one thing: coffee. He may not know where his socks were, or where the dog leash was, or how to fix the n-number things in his building. He might not know the name of his neighbours, but he knew where to find the best and the cheapest coffee in Bed-Stuy.

So that was Clint's thing every time there was a new invasion by aliens or a doombot attack: after escaping from the briefing Clint would head back to Bed Stuy and have himself a nice cup of coffee in the little hole in the wall diner with the grumpy but still hot one-armed waiter. And no he didn't go just because of James. It was really good coffee. James was just a bonus. Okay, maybe he went or James and the coffee was the bonus.

  
The first time Clint went to the diner, he had managed to avoid the paramedics and drag his sorry ass all the way back to his apartment only to find out he ran out of coffee. That led to him roaming the streets of Bed Stuy looking for some place that could provide him with the elixir of life. That’s how he found “The Diner”.

_**Flashback** _

Clint was at the point where he was just following his nose. His hearing aids where down for the count and his head was aching something fierce and the street lights were not helping, which he put down as caffeine withdraw and not the concussion that he most certainly did not have. So he just stumbled through the door from which that heavenly sent was coming from and just hoped it was a shop and not someone's house.

The inside was dim lit, which was good, kinda empty, which was great, and the waiter was holding a pot full of coffee, which was awesome.

He took advantage of the guy's frozen expression and reached for the pot. The guy reacted by pulling back and hiding the coffee behind himself which made Clint decide that, yes, this was the kind of crisis that deserves bringing out the big guns.

“Please” Clint said with the most pathetic expression he could muster, throwing in teary eyes for good measure. “I just really, really need some coffee”.

The guy sighted, looked up as if asking the heavens why this was happening to him and pointed to a booth on the back “Sit. I'll get your coffee and you'll drink it from a mug, like a normal human being.”

Clint sat, got his mug from the grumpy god of coffee and practically inhaled its contents. Then he turned to the guy with an extended hand and finally realized that guy only had one arm - nice going Barton. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry… I'm Clint but can I have some more I just really need more coffee, AIM started attacking really early today and I didn't even have breakfast today, just ...please?”

The guy gave a really long suffering sigh, put the coffee pot down and said “I'm James. You can have more coffee if you have some food with it”

_**End flashback** _

So now this was what he had waiting for him after missions, a grumpy sexy one armed waiter that would feed him and give him coffee. It was pretty great. It would be better if he could find the courage to ask James out but, hey, nothing is perfect, right? He would just keep looking longingly at him from his booth and day dream about that date.

“Your face looks more stupid then normal. Did you hit your head again?”

James voice sounded amused. At least he could entertain the guy, that must count for something, right?

“No concussions. Not even a bruised rib. Those mutant dogs couldn’t climb at all, I was just shooting them down from my nest” Clint answered with a grin. Today had been a good day. No casualties, the fight only lasted about an hour, he didn’t have a scratch on him, Steve had actually said he didn’t had to go to debriefing and The Diner was almost empty. So he could spend the afternoon there with Lucky and talking to James and not feel like he was on the way.

“I think this is the first time I've seen you and you don’t look like you need to go to the hospital.” James said while putting a cup of coffee in front of him. “I think it deserves a celebration. Today’s coffee is on the house.”

Clint’s grin reached super nova proportions. “You’re the best, don’t let anyone tell you different.”

James smiled at him and sat on the other side of the booth. “So, you never told me what you do when you’re not shooting things with ancient weapons.”

“Hey! Respect the bow. It’s the best weapon ever invented, I don’t care what Stark says.” Clint said in mock indignation. “I don’t do much. Take Lucky to the park, babysit for Simone, watch Youtube videos to figure out how to fix the sink. Oh, and Kate. She takes up a lot of time.”

“Oh.” James smile got a little down. “I didn’t realize you had a girlfriend.”

“NO! Eww, no, she’s like twelve and a brat, not a girlfriend at all!” Clint respond immediately with a disgusted face. “Why did you have to put that image in my head? I need brain bleach!”

Now James was laughing. At him, but that was ok. Damn, he looked so good when he laughed… And now he was looking at him with a raised eyebrow and, shit! He said that out loud, didn’t him?

“So you think I look good, hum?” James leaned on the table and smirked at him, and damn, that just wasn’t fair. He took a long gulp of coffee to try and gain some time, which just made James lean on the table a little more. How did he always end up in this kind of situations?

“Hm, er, yes? I mean, you’re a good looking guy, you know? Not that I only like you for your looks, but it doesn’t hurt, right?” Now James was looking at him with wide eyes and was that a blush? Yes, definitely a blush and he look pretty damn good like that too.

Well, now the cat was out of the bag. So he didn’t have anything to lose, right?

“So, um, do you want to get a cup of coffee sometime?”

James looked at him with a raised eyebrow and a small smile and gestured to the diner around them “I think we kinda already done that”

“Hum. Well, I guess we did. How’s pizza for a second date?”

“Sounds pretty good to me.”

“It’s a date, then.” Clint couldn’t stop grinning and James wasn’t having much luck in that department either. Today was a really, really good day.

 

_*** 6 months later *** _

 

Well, today officially sucked. James had an early shift so Clint woke up alone, the Avengers alert came before he manage to get to the diner and apparently HYDRA resurrected from the ashes to try and destroy all major SHIELD bases at once. That would already be bad, but spending the whole day fighting neo Nazis with no caffeine in his system was the worst.

He just wanted to curl up in the couch with a cup of coffee and let James fuss over him, but Steve had actually sat on his legs to stop him from leaving medical, so he had to endured the doctors fussing over him instead. And now Steve didn’t want to let him leave!

“You have a concussion, Clint. You can’t be by yourself and Natasha is only getting here the day after tomorrow and Kate is out of town” Steve said with a long suffering sigh.

“I’m not gonna be by myself. I swear.”

“Who's gonna be with you? The mysterious boyfriend no one has ever seen?” Steve asked with an arched eyebrow. So much from trusting your team mates, right?

“His name is James and he exists, okay? How about you take me there and see for yourself? You can tell him all the recommendations by the docs yourself.” Steve’s eyebrow was still arched, but he looked like he was really considering it. If he played his cards right, Steve would do it. “If you leave me with James, you can go after Tony and maybe get him to rest too.”

Hook, line and sinker.

It took them almost an hour to get to Bed Stuy, but Clint didn’t mind. If he could get the James+coffee+couch combo then today might be still salvageable. He didn’t wait for Steve to get out of the car, he was already going through the door and bee lining for where James stood behind the counter.

“I need all the coffee, James. All of it” Clint said while hugging James by the waist.

“You okay? I saw it on the news, it looked really rough out there.” James asked in concern while passing him a cup of coffee.

“M’fine. Just need coffee and a couch and – “

“Bucky?”

That was Steve’s voice. Steve’s incredibly surprised and hurt voice.

“Who the hell is Bucky?”

Steve’s face crumbled. Well, shit. Guess today isn’t salvageable after all. But at least he had James. And coffee


End file.
